


No They Don’t

by Skipp



Category: Blink-182
Genre: Angst, Fluff and Humor, Friends to Lovers, Health Issues, M/M, Panic Attacks, Self Confidence Issues, Slow Build, relationship dynamics
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-20
Updated: 2017-12-20
Packaged: 2019-02-17 16:27:14
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 17,782
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13080765
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Skipp/pseuds/Skipp
Summary: Tom and Mark have been attached at the hip since day one and nothing can change that, right?





	No They Don’t

**Author's Note:**

> The first fic ever that I wrote to restore my faith in Tom DeLonge, again. And to show people (myself included) that life goals change as you get older and it's okay to pursue your dreams. Especially when you get older.
> 
> The timeline follows all major blink events and is time accurate-ish. Althought I made some changes. Obviously.
> 
> It's still a WIP, sorry
> 
>  
> 
> ****
> 
>  Note to self: add trigger warnings
> 
> *****
> 
> All mistakes are mine, all characters appearing in these works are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental. The situations, the dialogs and other relations are all fictional. The characters have their own personalities and choices that are not those of the real people. 
> 
> Do not post any of my works published here or elsewhere without my explicit permission.

_Tom scratches his neck, sits a little bit upright in the chair and adjusts his headphones. The back pain returns sometimes, although this is a mere nothing compared to the agony he used to feel. He straightens his back, stretches arms over his head, pulls a little until a gentle stretch tingles his lower back. The headphones stream a melody recorded some weeks ago just as a quick draft and Tom could not somehow find the right theme for its lyrics yet._

_He hums along it, thinks about the dynamic, the slightly melancholic atmosphere which undertones the short riff composition and burrows himself back into the chair, his left foot tapping on the floor along the rhythm. Tom remembers exactly the late night when he took his acoustic outside to the pool and composed a few tones, lying in the recliner, gazing at the sky._

_He slowly exhales and his eyes wander around the walls of his home studio. The mellow autumn sun is drawing geometric shapes on the soundproof insulation, the big brown couch and the racks filled with various guitar rigs and pedal effects. His eyes linger for a moment on a small Marshall amp, tucked at the very bottom of the rack. It’s black case is pretty beaten, full of scratches and sticker remains. Tom’s lips quirk. He bought it on an evening just like this._

He found it in a pawnshop in downtown Poway and was so thrilled with it that he almost crashed into a parking meter on their way to Scott’s. Mark laughed and mocked him, but he was just as excited as Tom.

Scott eyed the new addition with doubts and muttered something, but then they plugged the Fender in and holy balls! The sound was so much better than from his old Mesa. Definitely clearer more round and heavy at the same moment _._

“Gentlemen, I just jizzed my pants“ Tom proclaimed. Mark nodded smiling, his fingers on the frets formed the first tones of the Star Spangled Banner. The trio exploded in laughter.

“Hahaha, good that there is no input big enough for your dick. You would shove it right in it wouldn’t ya, ya pervy boy?“ Mark laughed at him wagging his eyebrows.

Yeah, God he so would. They both beamed with delight and anticipation, Mark always knew exactly what went around in Tom’s head.

_As far as Tom can think of, everyone was aware that they shared a special relationship from the very first minute they met. The smirk on Anne’s face when she introduced them, the small uplift of Travis’ brow when they made their first “I’ll blow you if you give me your burrito“ joke in front of him. Their moms knew it, friends knew it, people from the record companies knew it, journalists knew it. No one had a problem with it, some media people even kept fuelling the rumors with innuendos and suggestive interview questions just to get the much needed reader’s attention._

_Tom’s head nods to the rhythm resonating in his ears._

It’s hard to tell when they crossed the physical line between them, personal space was never an issue.

When Tom woke up glued with his back to Mark’s chest in the sleeping department in the back of their ratty tour van, feeling Mark’s morning wood, he would immediately turn it to a joke pressing his own ass into Mark’s crotch, circling hips and making needy sounds to wake him up.

The air in the car was thick and smelly with sweat and alcohol from last night’s party.

”Markyy baby,” he circled his hips again, shamelessly feeling Marks morning wood.

“Hmmm, wha’?” Mark mumbled sleepily into his neck, slowly waking up.

But another thrust of Tom’s hips would set a pair of eyes immediately awake and on fire, fully on board with the situation. They were always up for a joke. Literally. Mark thrust his hips forward and started to mockingly moan, rolled them in the sheets moving himself on top and begun to hump Tom‘s leg. In a short while the groaning was so loud that the quilt cocoon next to them growled, moved and revealed Travis’ face full of pillow creases and a one that looked suspiciously like an outline of a drum stick.

“God, will you two assholes stop it? ” Trav grumbled falling back into the sheets. Two pairs of eyes locked with each other and the noise and rumbling got even louder.  A tattooed arm with a fist emerged from the cocoon and a middle finger rose in the air.

“Aww man, you don’t know what you’re miissiing, Tom really refined his jacking off technique in the past time” said Mark playfully in the direction of the arm.

“Your dick-fu is strong but my two-thumb-stroke style will make you cum in two seconds” added Tom in authoritative voice. They both burst into laughter immediately.

“Like hell! Even if he grows a pair boobs, I’m still not joining” replied the pile of sheets. Split second later Travis stuck his head out again and furrowed his brows.

”Where are we anyway?” he said, rubbed his face and started to climb out of the back to join Chad at the front of the van.

_Tom’s lips quirk at the memory. They always played the card along willing to take any joke to the limit._

_Yeah, their first tour with Trav was one of the best ones. They owned the crowds. Everyone wanted a piece of them and they took advantage of it, teasing and ridiculing themselves, offending everyone around at every given chance._

_The Dynamic Duo, trying to outdo each other constantly. Even at the dull moments when the dawn crept upon a seedy gas station somewhere along the road home and Tom was too tired from driving, it only took a giggly whisper “Hey Tom, check this“ into his ear. No one could resist Mark. Mark and his stupidly charming smile, contagious laughter and sky blue eyes constantly glowing with mischief._

_Tom’s jaw clenches a bit as he starts to sense the oddly familiar tingle on his bottom lip near the corner of his mouth. He worries the small scar on the inner side of his lip in search of a piece of metal that used to pierce his skin. He and Mark got their piercings at the same time, in the same tattoo parlor. He chose the lip and Mark the nipple. They asked the guy to put a classic ring into Mark’s, not a barber so it wouldn’t catch with Tom’s lip ring. The guy didn’t bat an eyelash, just chose another piece of metal to put into the sterilizer._

_He may not remember when was the physical line crossed, but he knows exactly when their odd friendship broke into another form of intimacy._

_Tom takes a swig of water from the glass on the table and stretches the fingers on his right hand._

“God these tacos are the shit! Take a bite!“ Tom offered Mark the food in his right hand.

Mark took a bite and “Holy shit man! Yummy yummies, tastes like sweet cummies“ he nodded frantically while laughing and chewing with open mouth. Chad on the the other side of the table choked on his drink.

They were in some diner along the highway in Bumfuck, Kansas eating the best tacos of their life.

“I wanna be married to them, make sweet love to them every night and every day” Tom proclaimed.

Mark smiled again and checked the clock on the wall “Chad, when will we be at the hotel?“

“It’s just another two hour drive from here to Kansas City“ Chad replied and continued sipping on his iced tea.

Rooming on tour is funny, Tom thought as he threw his backpack on the hotel bed. Trav and Chad ended up together after the very first night on the road. Their co-habitating was inevitable. Tom called it the black hole gravity law. Chad was always away, either to talk to girls or to do his manager voodoo so Trav had his own room where he would either listen to music or practice drumming.

Back then when they have been touring with Scott,  he and Mark pretty much slept together in one bed, in hallways huddled up against each other to keep warm, in a pile of sheets on the floor of a local promoter’s living room. So his own rooming with Mark was also an unavoidable. They were stellar, exuberant pieces of matter that flew around, colliding in a big cloud of yelling, flying limbs and colorful hair. Only Tom and Mark could handle Tom and Mark twenty four hours a day, seven days a week.

Nobody wanted to sleep in the hotel room with them, not only because of their habit of covering each other with snot and saliva when they woke up. They would share clothes, toothpaste and Tom loved to use Mark’s apple shampoo. Of course he could buy the same one, but that just did not felt right.

Mark got occasionally mad, like the day Tom stole chili powder in some restaurant and rubbed it on the inside of Mark’s boxers laid out for the next morning photoshoot. But Mark never stayed mad for long.

They cared for each other and when Tom had a headache Mark would dim the lightning and rub soothing circles on his temples. Some days they had these moments when they woke up short after one another and stared together out of the window, enjoying the little time when there were no media people, no shoving, no pushing, just the two of them. Mark smoked his morning cigarette and Tom would bitch about how bad it smells and that he should quit it.

Touring was an exercise in patience and the lack of privacy only contributed to it. Hotel nights were still a rare thing for them. Good that they arrived in Kansas one day earlier he thought. They can let out some steam, sleep till late afternoon and exploit the room service a bit.

Tom rummaged in his backpack, fished out a clean shirt, pulled it on and sat on the edge of the bed. He reached for the phone on the nightstand, dialed up a number and waited. After some ringing the tone changed and a female voice answered the call.

“Norton speaking”

“Hi Allie , it’s Tom, how are you?“ Tom asked with an enthusiastic smile.

“Yeah, hi, I’m fine“  the answer felt distant.

Tom frowned but continued. Maybe she had some of her shenanigans again. “So what are you doing? Anything new? I miss you, you know?“ he said with warm comforting tone.

“I’m waiting for Peter to arrive” she replied.

Oh right, Tom remembered, Allie was talking about hanging out with him lately. The guy is a serious creep Tom thought and he did not liked him only because of that. He made lame jokes, and Tom’s neighbor’s dog could do a better Ollie than this loser. What a tool.

“Ugh, okay, you gonna go skate?” Tom tried to play it cool.

“No, we’re actually gonna go see a movie together, it’s a date”

“Oh. Wait what?” A breath caught up in Tom’s throat. He frowned in a disbelieving gesture “What, how, eh, a date? What the hell?” His eyes flicked between the night stand and the pillow on the bed. No, she was dating him, this had to be a stupid joke!

“Hey, if this is a joke, it’s not funny” he fumbled nervously.

“No it’s not, and you know it! I told you if you go touring I will find a replacement. You are calling me after two weeks Tom!” she snapped back.

Tom bit his lip ring “I’m so sorry honey, but we had a pretty hectic schedule, and this is my first free moment, you know how it is when you’re touring” he pleaded, scratching his forehead.

She’s right, he had not called for two weeks, he could kick himself for it. But this is really the first free day and calling her was the first thing that popped into his mind when he entered the hotel room and saw the phone.

“No, I don’t know how it is. Maybe you should care more?! Maybe you should be here with me and not with Mark rolling around in dirt next to the road” she accused him, referring to their trip to the aqua park.

“Hey that happened only once and FYI, it was awesome! And don’t drag Mark into this. I promised you it will only take six weeks. What the fuck, why are you going on a date with that loser?” Tom felt anger rising inside him.

“Fuck you Tom! I told you, I don’t want you to leave, that’s why I am hanging out with him. Because he’s here and you’re not. You know what, I’m sick of it. You care more about some shitty band. You’re going nowhere making stupid jokes about fucking dogs with your fucking doll eyed bitch of a friend than your actual girlfriend! I’m done, fucking loser!” She screamed the last few words. Another angry shout was followed by a slam of the phone and the line went dead.

Tom stared at the nightstand in amazement and shock. What had just happened?

His heart was hammering against the inside of his ribcage and his palms had gone cold and sweaty. Tom lowered his right hand with the black receiver and eyed it in bewilderment. No, that can’t be true. This was some stupid alien shit.

He stood up, scowled intense at the phone in his hand and sat back on the bed.

“What the fuck” he whispered half-choked, sweaty fingers dialed the number again, only to hear an answering machine to pick it up. An answering machine, fucking cocks, he wanted to speak to her not to this stupid piece of crap. He frantically swiped sweat off his forehead.

“Hello, you reached the Norton family, but unfortunately no one is home. Leave us a message after the beep”

“Fuck off you piece of crap machine! Allie do you hear me, I know you’re there?! Allie, Allie what are you doing?” Tom shouted angrily.

Suddenly there was a flat tone in the earphone, someone hung out the phone.

“What the flipping fuck!” he swore bewildered, jumped up and smashed impulsively the receiver back on the phone. His right hand moved fast but clumsily with suppressed anger hurdling the nightstand lamp to the ground.

“Oh shit!” Tom got his mistake and tried to catch it but gravity betrayed him and he landed half on top of the nightstand and half with his hand in the broken lamp pieces.

“Oww, shit!!” Tom cried out when the sharp shards pierced his hand.

“Fuck that hurts, shit it’s glass!” he realized and tried to scramble himself up. His heart still beat as crazy as before, his throat dried out but the rage inside him washed away with the first drops of blood he noticed pouring from the cuts on his right hand.

“No, no, no, fuck, not my hand” Tom panicked and stumbled toward the bathroom on the other side of the room. He turned on the water, trying to clean out the blood out of the cuts when he heard a door slam.

“Honey I’m home!” Mark cheerfully hollered in high-pitch voice.

Tom tried to catch his breath and answer “Hey, hey I’m here” he yelled towards the other room and continued rubbing on his fingers.

Mark’s head appeared in the door.

“Whatcha doin’?” Mark asked with smirk, peeking behind his sunglasses.

“Oh fuck, what happened?” His expression changed immediately when he saw the blood stains in the sink and Tom’s pained expression. With a few steps he rushed to the basin, put his glasses aside and took Tom’s fingers in his hands.

“Man what happened?” he repeated as he spotted the again reddening cuts.

“I broke the lamp and fell hand first into the shattered glass” Tom confessed in shame.

Mark’s eyes seemed to be larger than usual and filled with fear as he examined the bloody cuts. Tom noticed his expression and the remaining bits of his anger and confusion were token away, replaced by sharp feeling of guilt.

“If there are shards we need to remove them. Have you been rubbing on your fingers? You can’t do that, you will only push them deeper!” Mark lectured him and Tom’s shoulders sank even lower. 

Fuck, after making Allie angry he managed to make Mark angry also? What the flipping fuck, were there stains on the sun today or what? He blinked and watched Mark hurrying back to the room shouting “I have tweezers somewhere, wait… stick your fingers back under the tap and clean out the blood” Okay, he could do that, the water was soothingly cool.

Mark was back in a flash and took Tom’s shaking hand into his own, squeezed it carefully in reassurance, dabbed the fingers with a towel and carefully picked out the small shards with tweezers, throwing them into the sink.

“You silly, what were you doing? You have to be careful and not hurt your fingers. You are playing tomorrow, did you forget that?” Mark reproached him but his voice was warm and caring.

“I did not meant to break it, I was just so angry and I could not control my arms,” Tom whined in shame.

Mark’s hands moved fast and precise. Another glass piece softly tinkled in the sink.

“I think I got them all out, tell me if there is any pain” Mark asked and placed the tweezers flat on Tom’s finger brushing the wounded spots.

Tom could not feel anything , it seemed like all the pieces were removed. “It’s fine, I don’t feel any pain. I think you cleaned all of them out,” he answered.

Mark nodded and said “Now we need to take care of the blood. Do you have any band-aids somewhere? I ran out of them yesterday. I was planning to buy some more today” he frowned.

“Yeah I have, in my bag, they’re in the spare pocket on the left side” Tom responded.

No wonder Mark had no band-aids left. Although their fingers developed some serious callouses through the years of playing, bass strings were always more rough than the guitar ones.

Tom watched as Mark returned to the bathroom again, fumbling some strips out of a red and white package and carefully wrapping the patches around his fingers.

Mark turned his gaze to Tom. “Man, why did you knock  over the lamp?” he questioned, his eyes filled with worry.

“I called Allie, but we had a fight and now it seems like she dumped me” Tom uttered, turning his gaze to the bandaged hand “It should be healed a bit by tomorrow right?” He was deeply embarrassed and upset.

Fuck he was so stupid, what if he would be unable to play the next gig? No, that can’t happen, he played with fever, he sang with throat inflammation, he will cope. It still stung and throbbed although the wounds were cleared out. He was so useless, hurting his hand in a stupid angry fit. Tom was so ashamed he could sink to the ground and cry.

He stood in the bathroom fidgeting, his fingers laced and unlaced watching Mark cleaning blood stains from the sink and Tom’s vision suddenly went out of focus, the walls felt like closing in on him. Tom sharply inhaled and tried to rub his eyes with his hand only to feel the band-aids and the sharp pain in his fingers intensified. He made a high frightened noise, now was not the time to panic he thought but his head spun and he stumbled towards the bathtub.

“Oh shit, man, what are you doing?” Mark caught him by the shirt and pulled him back.

Tom exhaled shakily, his head felt dizzy as he slumped to the cold hard floor like a pile of misfortune.

“Crap, is this a panic attack?” Mark looked alarmed, his hand still entangled in Tom’s shirt. He already witnessed some of Tom’s weaker moments. He hoped this one won’t be as bad as the panic attack Tom got when his mother had a car accident.

“God I’m so fucking useless. I’m a worthless piece of crap. I can’t keep promises, I’m not good enough and to top it all, I cut my fingers when I’m supposed to be careful about them. Everyone’s gonna leave me because I am weak and disappointing” Tom sobbed, his insides twisting with misery and shame.

“Tom, calm down. You need to calm down. Don’t be like that, you know it’s not true. We got to get this under control. Please calm down,” Mark repeated in comforting tone patting his shoulders.

Tom tried to focus, to push away all the insecure and frantic thoughts rotating in his head. His heart made a panicked flail inside his chest and he had to make two deep exhales to slow it down a bit. But in a second another wave of emotion hit him, breaking the last barrier.

“Please don’t ever leave me Mark” Tom half choked out, tears already rising in his eyes. He hugged Mark’s legs and buried his face in Mark’s pants to muffle his teary sobs.

“Hey buddy, you know I will never leave you,” Mark said and clumsily dropped next to the crying man. “Tommy honey, please stop crying” he stroked Tom’s hair and hugged him tightly. But Tom broke into a regular cry, shaking and sobbing unrecognizable words into Mark’s neck.

“Tom, Tom calm down, I won’t leave you, neither will Trav or any other person. All will be fine. Now please stop crying. I can’t understand a word you say and you know how I hate when your eyes are all puffy after you cry” Mark rocked them back and forth, drawing soothing circles with his thumb into Tom’s neck but Tom continued to cry.

“Tommy please don’t cry, you know how much I care about you and I would never leave you” Mark repeated and to support that he kissed the top of Tom’s head.

“S-she said it too and she l-left me anyway” Tom wailed into the crease of Mark‘s neck.

“I swear I will never abandon you, big man, I can never leave you cause then the aliens would steal you away and I could never live without you” Mark tried to ease out Tom’s sad tension rocking them softly back and forth and gently stroking Tom’s back.

After a while Tom calmed, slowly completely limped in Mark’s arms, all the previous flustration seemed to be washed away with the tears, only the occassional sob or sniffle was to be heard.

A while later Tom raised his head and concentrated on the two sky blue eyes radiating with care and empathy. He sniffled and blurted out: “Aliens would heal my fingers, they hurt”

“Do you want me to kiss it better?” Mark faintly smiled reaching for Tom’s right hand.

“No you dumb ass” answered Tom and hid his hand behind his back “Fuck, I’m so sorry, I did not meant to fuck up like this. It’s so embarrassing. I feel like shit”

“Hey, it’s okay. You wanna take a rest? Your eyes are all red, you’ll sleep a bit, hm?” Mark asked “And please be careful, I don’t want you hurt" he added, eyes moving up Tom’s face.

Tom slowly nodded.

Mark stroked Tom’s hair again stood up and pulled Tom with him pushing him in the direction of the bathroom door.

Tom shuffled towards the bed and when his knees hit the frame he sank into an exhausted heap on top of the bed and stared blankly at the white sheets. “I don’t want to sleep alone” he whispered after a while.

Mark sighed and sat next to him “Want me to sing you a lullaby?” he asked as his right arm carefully pulled Tom in.

“Maybe” Tom replied wiping off the snot with his hand absentmindedly. His head was strangely light and empty but the tremors were coming back again. “Can we stay like this?” he whispered placing his head on Mark’s chest. This was good. Grounding. He took another deep breath and tried not to flinch.

“I am loser and no one likes me. I know it” Tom’s breathing once again increased. The anxiety was growing stronger and bigger every second.

“No you’re not” Mark assured his best friend “I like you a lot, you know that, and you also know how I hate when you’re sad and self-loathing” he continued. “You’re the best Tom DeLonge in the whole wide world, you hear me?”

“Nonsense” Tom said drawing in a shallow nervous breath when Mark put one hand on his face. He leaned down and planted a soft, chaste kiss on Tom’s chapped lips.

It was just a light brush, their mouths were barely touching, but it was enough to put Tom off his mind and take the rising tension away.

“Everything will be okay, you just need to take a rest” Mark repeated and Tom was so bewildered that he only managed to nod and placed his head on Mark’s chest. His gaze slid over Mark’s arms entangled around his waist.

“You will be fine” Mark calmed him again and stroked his back. He was not sure what exactly happened a minute ago but he sure will be okay as long as Mark stays with him.

Tom woke up after what felt like minutes. He was sprawled on the sheets, surrounded by comfortable warmth. Slowly he realized that it came from Mark’s limbs touching him and the light snoring in his ear must also be Mark. He must have felt asleep in his arms at some point and Mark then re-arranged them on the bed because Tom did not remembered moving anywhere.

He lied on his side, gazing at the wall next to the bed, thinking why Mark kissed him. Why did he feel like he could faint the moment he realized what was happening. Was it the panic or surprise? Why the fuck was he so nervous now, thinking about it? It was apparently nothing more than a trick to actually stop him from panicking for the second time in the first place. And it worked well.

He was brought back to the current state when Mark nuzzled his neck. Mark was a cuddler and Tom knew it but still blood rushed into Tom’s cheeks as he feverishly tried to think a too pleasant feeling away. Pull yourself together he heard his inner voice, how many times have you woken up next to Mark? Hundredth times probably? This is not some chick flick, so man up and be cool. Tom worried his lip ring with tongue and rubbed his forehead with right hand, still taped in band aids. Right, stay cool, go just as casually about it as Mark did. It was just a joke, nothing to be worked up about. It was nothing serious, just lips pressed together. So act casual.

He took a breath in, turned around and poked the sleeping face next to him “Hey seems like we slept longer than we should, it’s almost time for the press meeting at six”

No matter what Tom though that afternoon, things went different from that point. Or rather started to feel different. After the brief meltdown in the bathroom, he was back in his old shoes, all giggly 6’ 4" of flailing limbs, awkward facial expressions and fuck-a-dog jokes but he started to be very conscious of his bandmate. Not that he didn’t paid attention before, Tom started to notice the tiny yet repetitive things. For example how Mark was very protective of him, his older friend took care of him more than necessary. It could be the older brother complex, however Tom was not exactly sure. Mark never addressed the kiss that happened in the hotel room. Still it seemed to Tom that Mark’s eyes were a different shade of blue after that. And second, Tom noticed that between all the boobies fixation and checking out girls there were also moments when Mark undoubtedly checked out dudes as well. Now how about that.

Tom never had prejudices against sexual orientation. Sex was such an awesome thing to do that it did not matter to him with whom he did it. The gay jokes were part of the fun and the occasional misconceptions of him and Mark dating were just adding to the fire. But now the past events and observations made Tom see things a little different. He never actually seriously considered dudes being also a part of the game. His own preferences were set in the female field. So why seeing Mark checking out guys made him so confused. He wouldn’t have a problem with Mark dating a guy. No wait, he would. It would have meant that his place would be taken by another guy and Tom did not liked that idea. Mark was his best friend and Tom did not wanted to share him with any other guy. Girls were different, Tom never had a problem with a girl that Mark dated.

During the following couple of months the closeness between them changed for good. It never really bothered Tom before, they had awesome time making shit up and doing stupid pranks and stuff but Tom’s feelings started to slowly change. Bit by bit they formed into something else, something bigger which threatened to be uncontrollable. Attraction and affection towards his best friend and bandmate.

He tried to hide it, to manage well his emotions and act like nothing has changed, wishing it was only a temporary crush that would go away. But time to time he lost his coolness. Mark caught him more than a few times staring but Tom played it down with some joke, although the blush on his face suggested the exact opposite.

He was slowly coming to terms with his crush when the next summer tour was planned and they hired a tour bus. Tom sighed as he saw the big motherfucker of a bus standing in front of their rehearsal studio. They inspected it and Tom felt nauseous when he realized that with the tour bus, there will be probably no hotel nights at all. Only the small space of his bunk. It was hell on wheels.

Halfway through the tour he was content with suppressing any sort of excess affection towards Mark. Until he caught him shamelessly flirting with one of the sound guys in the venue they were playing.

When they finished their set and went to the backstage to take a well deserved rest, Mark turned around and went the other way to the bar. Tom lifted his brows in surprise and went after Trav to change into some clean clothes and shoes that were not soaked with sweat. On his way he was caught up by some local journalist and persuaded to do an impromptu interview about his thoughts on the latest declassified documents that NASA recently released regarding his favorite subject, aliens. He lost the track of time and when he came back to their dressing room Travis was sitting on the couch in the corner sipping on bottled water.

“Where’s Mark?” Tom asked “We need to pack the gear and go”

Travis shrugged shoulders, screwed the lid back on the bottle “He’s not back yet”

Tom gazed at the door and then walked out of the room. He went through the corridor and past the stage, right to the bar.

There he was.

Tom watched Mark talking to a person he vaguely remembered as the sound guy they met prior their sound check. He was about the same height as Mark, with dark almost black hair and a The Cure shirt. Mark was giggling, they both smoked, nursing beers in their hands and talking with their bowed heads too damn near each other than Tom was willing to tolerate. Mark giggled and Tom noticed Mark’s eyes fixed on the other man’s mouth. Fuck that.

“Hey Mark, we need to pack up and leave” he approached the men, looking generally disapproving.

Mark lifted his head halfway to take a drag from his cigarette “Yea, I’ll be right there” he responded and turned his head back to the other man.

“No, I mean it, now” Tom said impatiently, shifting from leg to leg.

“Man, I’ll be right there” Mark waved back “Hey by the way meet Jerry, he has all The Cure bootlegs I have been searching for. He even has the one from The Kissing Tour”

Tom knew that anyone who likes The Cure as much as Mark does, has the way to his heart open. Now he really hated that guy.

“Mark, we’re packing and leaving” he was glowering at them both.

“Dude, you need to chill out” said Jerry with a smirk “Are you his babysitter or what?”

If looks could kill, there would be an ass big hole right where this pretentious shithead stood.

“Okay okay, don’t be such a drag!” Mark rolled his eyes, put out the cigarette and turned to the other guy “It was a very pleasant talk Jerry, I hope we get to play here again very soon. I would love to see your collection, maybe next time”

Was he being too paranoid or was that an innuendo Tom thought irritated and followed Mark towards the backstage “You pack real quick and get on the bus” Tom scolded him.

After this there were a couple of similar events when Tom realized that what he felt was not irritation but plain jealousy. But only when the objects of Mark’s desire were men. He had no problem with Mark flirting with women. He got the brilliant idea of ending this whole confusing thing by setting up Mark with any woman they met. He would sort out his own crush and make Mark happy. The only thing missing was how. So Tom’s mind was now working on overdrive, trying to think up the perfect wingman line.

“Hey, wanna go on a date with Mark?” Tom asked cheerfully the blond haired girl who was introduced to them as Skye. They were on the set of their new video and she was one of the MTV people running around with headset and a heavily scribbled paper desk. Tom noticed Mark was turning his head around the petite blonde quite a few times. She was radiating a healthy combination of beauty, self-confidence and elegance which Mark always found very attractive.

“Seriously? Pimping your bandmate?” she answered with raised brow, turned her back to them and walked away.

They both stood there dumbfounded, Mark red as a lobster.

“Sorry man” was all Tom could manage and they wandered crestfallen towards the set. The evening would be long and painful, despite the filming fun.

“It’s a wrap!” someone screamed at 4:30 am and Tom was so happy. Finally it was over. This was the longest video making he ever experienced.

“Oh god, if anyone tells me to repeat the stupid hand move again, I’ll batter him down with my shoe. Please tell me we can go to the hotel” Mark dropped to the chair next to him equally exhausted.

Tom did not know the exact schedule, they should actually be finished with the filming at midnight, but he was looking forward to see his bed too. He nudged the empty bottle lying next to the chair with his foot and looked around the still buzzing hangar. Film guys were trotting around the place, some chatting with the extras, Marcos was going over the last takes with Jerry and Skye, the girl from before.

“Waay out of my league” Mark sighed after a while when he also noticed her.

“Gotta give it another try” Tom suggested as she shook hands with Jerry and headed towards them.

“Hey, we are done with the main shooting, I already told Travis that you are free to go. But please stay in touch with Marcos, we might need you to re-shoot some scenes” Skye said and checked her watch “The car should be here in about 10 minutes to drive you to your hotel”

Tom encouraged his bandmate with a poke in the ribs. Mark twitched and stuttered out “Umm, c-can I invite you maybe to an interesting, intellectually stimulating conversation over a hot beverage or so? Just to show you that I am perfectly capable of leading a meaningful conversation”

“Like I said before. I am not interested” she dismissed him with a hand wave and turned her back on them again and left.

“A-w-k-w-a-r-d” Mark spelled out with reddening cheeks “Please let me die in a hole”

“Hey, don’t be discouraged” Tom comforted him. “There are a lot of fish in the sea. Or dog anuses”

Mark made a sulky face and jammed his hands in pockets.

Tom tried the pick up line on several other occasions but always with the same result. A sad and embarrassed Mark. Obviously they made so much jokes that no one took them seriously.

“Hey man, you might wanna quit it” sighed Mark after a particularly bad fail “The truth is I don’t want to date a girl, or hook up”

“What? Hey the whole sex thing is fun. But you have to try something else than your hand for a change” Tom smirked mocking.

“No, I don’t want to” frowned Mark and slumped down into a chair.

They were at the patio of Trav’s new house celebrating Melissa’s birthday. The pool was filled with girls in bikini and the beat thrumming through the speakers pleasantly undertoned the laid-back atmosphere of a summer evening.

“Just chill, I will bring some drinks. David will be here in a second and then the party will start!” Tom yelled and moved through the crowd towards the make-shift bar. He should try to cheer up Mark, later he was kind of sad, Tom noticed. Nothing a couple of shots could change. Tom had way more drinks than Mark and was buzzing with energy.

He returned with the beer plus two shots of vodka and made an extra dorky face as he gave Mark his glass.

“Kick the shit down” he leaned to Mark’s chair, “we’re about to party. I saw a girl, dude I swear she has the biggest” — Tom made a very specific hand gesture.

“Stop it” Mark interrupted him “I said I don’t want to”

“Oh come on, I wanna see you smile” Tom bounced on his toes “Mark, Moaark, come on”

“No!”

“But—!”

“No buts!”

“No buts… but BUTTS!” Tom shrieked, turned and wiggled his butt right in Mark’s face “Maybe you want to try a different booty” he giggled.

Mark froze. For a second his eyes went wide, he placed the glass on the floor, leaped out of his chair and abruptly walked away without saying a word.

Tom stood there dumbfounded, wondering what the hell just happened. The people around him were not paying attention to their little charade. Maybe he overdid it this time, he meant no harm, he just wanted Mark to smile. Tom frowned and moved to go after Mark.

He found him in the front yard, sitting in the shadow of a palm tree smoking a cigarette. Tom hated the nauseating smell. He sat next to him and suppressed the urge to put out that stupid thing.

“Hey, I’m sorry” he mumbled out “I am an asshole you know that”

Mark raised an eyebrow and blew out smoke “Yea, wanna elaborate on that?”

“I swear I will stop it, I just wanted you to have fun, you know what I mean” Tom continued “If you don’t want to, I will respect it”

“I told you several times that I don’t like it” Mark replied.

“But why?“

Mark put out the cigarette, slipped his hands into his pockets, and gave him an odd look “I don’t want to hook up or date now” he repeated, his gaze slid over Tom’s face.

“And I have a good reason for that” Mark sighed “I don’t want to stay here, you can continue partying with David, I’ll see you tomorrow at the rehearsal”

“Please don’t leave. Or we can leave together, wanna go to my place? I have a new telescope, we can check out the aliens” Tom grinned in a desperate attempt to stay with Mark.

Mark once again scanned his face with a weird expression “Okay, let’s do that” he slowly nodded after a while.

Half an hour later when David arrived to the party there was no sight of Tom or Mark. He checked twice. Some girl brought him a glass of a sticky cocktail and now he stood in the garden, sipping on that awful thing and watched the twinkling stars above his head. Goddamn those two jerks.

“I really need to move somewhere where the the light pollution is not such a drag” Tom scoffed as he shuffled the two little seats on his terrace. He drove them from Travis’ party to his home on the beach he was renting. The sound of breaking waves was calming to his ears, plus he still went sometimes out for a quick morning surf.

Mark was unusually silent the whole ride long and now he was leaning against the bannister, watching the moving shoreline.

“Tom, can I talk to you about something?” he asked, still turned with his back to him.

Tom crossed the two step distance and placed his forearms on the railing next to Mark “Shoot” he replied.

“I will tell you something, but you have to promise me, you won’t freak out, okay?” Mark fidgeted with an unlit cigarette. The light ocean breeze ruffled his hair.

Tom watched his nervous bandmate with mild fear. He hoped Mark would not get angry with him again. He seemed kind of very offended by that butt shake accident and that was something very rare. Tom would like to reach out and apologetically hug him, but his friend seemed rather unapproachable watching the crushing waves.

Mark was gazing in the distance for a long time before he bat out almost tonelessly “I might have a thing for guys as well as girls” and sank his head down between shoulders.

“That’s it? This is the stuff you were freaking about the whole time?” Tom asked bewildered with a lopsided smile “Man, chill, I figured out long time ago”

Mark turned to Tom with a surprised expression on his face, obviously caught off guard “How do you know?”

“Ah, never mind” Tom averted his eyes to hide the excitement. His best friend and crush just came out to him as bi. Tom’s heart stuttered in his chest with the thought that he interpreted all his observations correctly.

“Okay, fine” added Mark and took a deep breath “But that’s not the whole thing”

Now was Tom’s turn to be astonished “Eeh, you date your neighbor or what?”

“No” Mark pulled a lighter out of his pocket, glared at it and then stuck it back into his pocket.

“I have a thing for one person, but it’s not my neighbor” he was now staring at Tom.

Mark closed his eyes for a long second and fisted the hand in his pocket when he opened them again “I might have a thing for you” Mark sharply exhaled “Please don’t freak out” his voice cracked at the end of the sentence.

Tom hesitated for a second to take any action, before he turned to Mark and stepped into his personal space “You don’t have a clue you jerk, do you?” he whispered. His hand reached towards Mark. Mark tensed and Tom froze with his hand just a centimeter away from his face.

Mark’s gaze slid over Tom’s face, then drifted down to his lips. Tom’s pulse was pacing heavily against his temples, his hand closed the gap and softly stroked Mark’s left cheek.

“God, you have no idea” he breathed out and kissed Mark. His lips were soft, a little cold and Tom almost swayed away when Mark’s chest pressed into his.

Their lips parted and Tom pulled a little back just to catch a breath. Then he leaned in and the second time the kiss was a little deeper. His other hand slid to the small of Mark’s back and pulled him in. Their lips were closed, both of them trembled against each other, and Tom could not tell their running hearts apart anymore.

Mark lifted his hands, curled his fingertips in Tom’s shirt, tilted his head and gasped, mouths pressed together again, but much more desperate now. Tom’s head was spinning, he felt like his knees would give up from all the happiness. It was overwhelming.

They slowed down after a while to catch their breaths, with their noses slightly bumping as Tom pressed his forehead into Mark’s.

“Guess what?” Tom said softly as he was drowning in the electrifying blue depth of Mark’s eyes “You’re not the only one”

 _Tom is humming to the music in his ears, something about the beat feels just like this memory. Full of hopes, nervous uncertainty_ _, salty taste of an evening sea breeze, and youth nostalgia. Yeah, that was the first move they made. It was very intimate and a little scary for both of them. Despite the friendship that they had built, the situation was pretty delicate, and he was afraid of ruining it. Somewhere along all the butterflies in his stomach he was also quite naive about the consequences of that night._

Tom woke up being spooned by his bandmate. Mark wanted to try writing some lyrics so he came up to Tom’s house and they worked till late night. Tired from the writing Mark suggested spending the night at Tom’s place. Now they were lying in his bed half tangled in the white sheets, illuminated by sun beams. The blinds were open to let in the afternoon light, the air smelled like spring and rain, and a light breeze came through the half-open window. Mark was pressed to Tom’s side, hand curled on Tom’s stomach and head in the crook of his neck, softly snoring.

Tom wondered what Mark would do if he turned, slipped a hand down, pushed it under the hem of Mark’s boxers and touched him.  _Fuck, I’m doomed_  Tom thought staring at the ceiling.

The thing was, Tom was horny seven days in a week and twenty four hours a day. When they got past the initial phase of kissing and cuddling, Tom got really curious of how it would work out between two guys. Theory and praxis are two different things, jokes aside. He read some gay magazines, ended up being all red in the face but even more curious. He made a mental note to take one day off and browse a certain kind of shops in Hillcrest, incognito. This was not like he got drunk, accidentally ended up in a gay bar and hey look at that guy, he’s packing an anaconda in his pants. This was serious. Did Mark already had his experience with another guy? How do you play out the whole bi thing, it was confusing? You fool around with both? Or just kiss boys and fuck girls? Or just concentrate on one part and then on the other? And what next, are you supposed to still marry a girl after that? Would he be able to do that? Leave Mark for someone else?

Tom heard from someone that the turning point of a good and longlasting relationship would come when the initial love and affection transforms into a partnership. He felt like they mixed up the parts, they approached it from the back. Hehehe, okay, that was a lame joke.

But what will happen if they would really have an intimate relationship? How would it influence their friendship? Would it be forever so dreamy or would it destroy both of them? The last thing he would like to do is to hurt Mark. Also, how would the fanbase react? The media, would they drag them? Because it would not be a joke anymore. Tom frowned thinking about the future, once again he repeated to himself, as long as he’s with Mark, the future will turn out great. In the end he settled to simply go with the flow.

Two days later Mark spent the evening at his place again. They should be approving some designs for a new Atticus tee line but ended up playing Mario Kart and eating pizza. There was a lot of yelling ‘I said not that direction!’ and ‘fuck you, I did not press that button!’

When Mark won for the fourth time in a row and was demanding yet another kiss for the winner, the whole thing ended up in fierce making out session. Tom was fidgeting and subconsciously biting his lip ring.

Mark narrowed his eyes and asked ”Man, are you all right, you seem rather tense?”

“Yeah, I am—, I mean, umm…” Tom fidgeted with his shirt rim, a familiar wave of heat slowly curling up in his stomach.

“Yes I see that” Mark laughed delighted, pulled Tom closer and kissed him open-mouthed, head tilted and his other hand slowly sneaked under Tom’s shirt and went down his ribs. 

Tom let out an uncontrolled breath.  _Shit, I can’t handle it_ , he thought. He could feel the soft inviting give of Mark’s mouth. The hand rested on his side, heavy, tempting, almost electrifying and Tom opened his eyes a little to see how Mark reacted, but Mark’s eyes were closed. His eyelashes drew shadows underneath his eyes. Tom dug his fingers into his own thigh in a desperate try to maintain the little control he had left.

“Is this okay?“ Mark asked quietly after he opened his eyes. His other hand reached to cradle the side of Tom’s head, thumb rubbing along Tom’s bottom lip. 

“Y-yeah” Tom stuttered out, his heart picked up even more wild pace. He had to do something so he would not lose his mind. His hand reached for Mark’s own waist and paused on the belt of Mark’s pants. His thumb slipped under the hem of Mark’s shirt, shuddering upon touching the bare and hot skin underneath it.

Mark’s lips parted and he made a very quiet noise. Tom felt the courage pouring into him and took the sound as an invitation. He gently bit at Mark’s bottom lip and swept his tongue in with more confidence. The sensation of touching Mark’s skin was driving him crazy and made his chest grow hot and heavy. He never felt anything like this before, never saw anything so beautiful as Mark’s pupils blown so much that the blue of his eyes was barely to be seen. And he was the one responsible for that. Fuck! Tom made an excited sound and toppled them both on the couch. He was on top, chest to chest with Mark, who curled his arms across the back of his neck and continued to kiss him fervently. It was awesome how well their bodies fit together, how perfectly Mark filled the space underneath his body, how easy everything felt. Like they had been doing this for ages, the two of them pressed so close together. Mark sighed and moved his hips underneath Tom.

“Oh shit! You can’t do that!” Tom exhaled.

“Try and stop me,” Mark laughed and pulled him down for another kiss.

Tom was at the brink of exploding. “Jesus fuck, you make me wanna—!”

“Ooh, I like that sound!” Mark commented with a smirk.

“You think you’re so smug, huh?” Tom replied, afraid that if this little make out session brought him almost to the point of madness, what would the next level bring?

_Tom shifts in his seat and smiles._

He found out very soon. There was another tour ahead of them, a five weeks long summer tour that promised a lot. They all were excited to work with Eric, their new tour manager, only Tom was a little anxious about what would the five weeks in a crammed tour bus do to his self-control. He only conditioned to have a separate bus for the managing crew justifying it by saying they will be working on new album material so they needed more privacy. Juggling Trav and two drivers who were either asleep or focusing on driving was easier.

He and Mark behaved kind of reserved at first, sneaking kisses when they were alone in the bus or Trav was deep asleep. But as the days passed by, they could not keep their hands off each other. Being inches away but unable to touch for more than five seconds was unbearably irritating. Then came the show in Phoenix where Tom got so excited from all the adrenalin pumping in his veins, that he got a regular boner during the show. Mark noticed and found it very amusing, teasing him live on the set.

“I still can’t get over the fact that you popped a boner. Ha ha ha,” Mark was still laughing about it the next day. “On the stage, man!” Mark grinned while eating a popsicle. They were leaning against the side of their tour bus, hiding from the hot burning sun.

“Oh, come on, how long do you want to stretch it? Besides it’s your fault” Tom made a face and stuck out his tongue at Mark. He was frustrated and Mark’s ice eating was not helping the situation at all. His gaze fixed on Mark’s mouth, feeling a sudden jolt of arousal in the pit of his stomach. His dick was a fucking traitor.

“How is it my fault? I didn’t do anything” Mark innocently swallowed half of the strawberry popsicle.

“You’re not making it easier” Tom groaned leaning over Mark, placing his hands on the bus next to Mark’s shoulders. He was half-hard in his pants. Probably for the third time this day.

“Really?” Mark peeked over the top of his sunglasses. “Then maybe you should do something about it. I think Trav is gone somewhere with his pals until the sound check” he added with a smirk, quickly running his left hand over Tom’s waist.

Tom’s body jerked, the brief touch of fingertips brushing over his hip was electrifying. They were watching each other, chests heaving and the air around them was thick with the afternoon warmth. Mark quickly scanned the almost empty parking lot and tilted his head towards Tom’s neck. The anticipation of what will probably happen excited Tom as Marks’s nose pressed into the side of his neck, hot breath curling over his skin.

“Fuck, you’ll kill me” Tom squeezed his eyes and bit his lower lip. “We should probably move inside”

Mark looked around the parking lot, they were not exactly alone, the crew people and some other folks were out and about, but nobody actually paid them attention. “Nuh-huh” he seconded wiggling his eyebrows.

The bus was silent and empty. Tom went straight to the kitchenette and fumbled nervously with the bottles on the top of the counter trying to hide his blushing face.

“Maybe, want some water?” Tom asked biting on his lip ring once his heart settled to a more normal pace.

“I plan to swallow something else than water” Mark answered shamelessly with a flirty wink and moved towards Tom.

Tom’s mouth fell open. In a second he was pushed against the paneling right next to the build-in fridge, his surprised groan muffled against Mark’s mouth.

Mark arched up, leaning into the curve of Tom’s body, they were completely tangled into each other. Their kiss started out gentle, but then Mark decided to speed things up because he pressed more into Tom and licked into his mouth. Tom looped his arms around Mark’s neck, pulled him in even tighter and lowered his head for an easier access. He had trouble concentrating, all the blood in his brain was absent. Then Mark reached up with his hand to trace Tom’s swollen bottom lip with the pad of his thumb.

“I am a tease? Maybe you should see yourself constantly playing with the lip ring. I never hated a piece of metal so ferociously” Mark breathed out and gently tugged on the ring with his teeth.

“Oh holy fuck” was everything Tom could get out.

Mark shoved both hands up Tom’s shirt, digging into the soft skin on his back.

Tom gasped for air and Mark’s eyes sparkled with amusement.  “You’re a menace Hoppus” he hissed.

“I know, it keeps me awake at ni—” The rest of the sentence was quieted by Tom’s mouth.

When Tom pulled back he rested his forehead against Mark’s “I’ve been wanting to do that for days” he confessed softly.

“You’re blushing” Mark noticed.

“Yeah” Tom ducked his head shyly aside.

“Aww,” Mark leaned forward, planted a soft, chaste kiss on Tom’s lips and nudged them both in the direction of the bunk beds. They tumbled a few steps and hit the bunk wall with a thud.

“Oof, you’re heavy,” Mark exhaled being pressed under Tom’s taller body. They both breathed heavily.

“I bet you don’t mind that much” Tom’s hand slid around to cup the back of Mark’s head. His mouth was already half open, begging to be kissed again.

There was a rustle above their heads and the curtain on the top bunk was pushed aside to reveal Travis whose face split into a shit-eating grin “I knew it! I fucking knew it!”

Tom stopped with his head half way to Mark, eyes blown up with fear. His pulse did a frantic thing inside his throat. For a split second Tom felt like running away. Mark’s hands tightened on his arms to keep him in place. They both turned their faces towards Travis.

Mark was the first one to recover “Umm, we though you went out for a lunch!” He casually replied like nothing happened.

“How long were you planning to hide it? No wait, you weren’t hiding it at all. The darkest place is under the candle, right?” Travis was highly amused by the revelation. “Wait, I’m not even surprised, you know? But hey, I hope you know what you’re doing, you know what I mean? I swear I will drag your asses through the biggest cactae cluster in SoCal if you fuck up. And feed the rest to my dogs. Are you aware that any bad thing would affect the band as well? I hope you are. Don’t fuck it up” he added in a serious tone.

“No we won’t, right babe?” Mark replied and kissed the red cheek of still stunned Tom.

“Yea” Tom flushed darker. He was dazed but also enlightened by what just happened. Looks like from now on they didn’t need to hide from Travis. He was a little surprised by his positive reaction. Tom thought that there would be a lot more of yelling involved than laughing. Another proof that Travis was an awesome friend to both of them, accepting and loving them as the fucking love wrecks they were.

After the evening show and the much desired shower all three of them ended up in a long chat in the bus lounge and numerous pages of their notebooks scribbled with possible song lyrics.

When they were too tired to continue, Mark and Tom brushes their teeth side by side, watching the landscape entwining around them. The bus rolled with a low drone through the night to the next stop.

“Night” Mark said softly pulling the curtain close in his bunk.

“Night” Tom replied and also adjusted his curtain. For a long while he laid in the sheets grinning, until he drifted off to sleep.

It all got a little easier after that. Trav was their silent ally who understood that there was no real privacy on tour so he was very often out or hanged out with their drivers or crew so Tom and Mark could sneak in for a little make out sessions here and there.

“My mouth tastes like rat piss, I don’t know what was in those water bottles on the stage. I guess not water” Tom complained waving his hands when they walked off the stage cheeks flushed, skin shining with sweat, riding on the post-show high.

“How do you know how rat piss tastes? No, I don’t want to hear the answer. You should write that into our rider, no bottles with rat piss,” Mark chuckled and rubbed his hair with a towel “There are no showers in the backstage so imma go to the bus”

“Guys, guys, I’ve got something important to do, I’ll catch up with you later” Trav came up behind them. He dried himself off with another white towel throwing side glances to the pit barrier. A voluptuous blond haired girl was standing there, impatiently shuffling her feet.

“Hey, isn’t that the same girl as in the three days before? You should give her an AAA pass, not only a place on the guest list,” Tom grinned, waggling eyebrows suggestively.

“Hey man, it’s all decent, you know” Travis yelled back already hurrying to the barrier. The girl welcomed him with a hug and patted his sweaty head excitedly.

Tom and Mark looked at each other, Mark pursed lips and made kissing noises, Tom stuffed his index finger up his nose making half articulated sounds as they gesticulated towards the pair at the barrier.

“Hungry, huh?” the bassist swiftly remarked noticing the finger in the nose.

“Yup, I have a bottle of ketchup back in the bus to undertone the flavor”

“Sorry to interrupt your snack guys, may I pass?” One of their roadies sneaked around them on his way to the stage.

“I’ll go get that shower” Mark exhaled, still a little out of breath from their performance.

“Good idea Mister Responsible, I’ll join you” Tom nodded, pulling the finger out of his nose.

The shower in their bus was little and crammed. Tom was not happy to use it, because he was too tall to stand under the stream and needed to bend in really awkward angles to fit in. But after seeing Mark stripping out of his sweaty clothes he did not mind the small space. Tom showed his pants with boxers down, threw the wet shirt into one corner, shoes into the other corner and went after Mark.

“Can I join you?” Tom asked Mark who stood under the stream, bubbles of foam running down his face.

“Man, there is not enough place for me alone, yet for the both of us” Mark spat out water.

“Oh, we’ll fit in, we’ll always do. Shall I wash your hair for you?” Tom stepped into the small space. Steam curled around both of them, wrapping them like a big fluffy blanket.

“Okay, but I don’t want any shampoo in my eyes like last time”

“Sure, sure” Tom snatched the green bottle from the tray. His nose filled with apple scent as he gently massaged Mark’s scalp with blunt fingers. The shower was really small and he was constantly hitting the sides with his elbows. Maybe if he shifted like this, wiggled a bit to the right, then a little like this—

“Hey, stop slapping me with your dick, Thomas!”

Tom froze. A flush crept up his chest, the air was thick with embarrassment.

“It was a joke” Mark calmed him “I like you and your little man too”

“He’s not little if you rub him the right way” Tom pouted and continued to wash his bandmate’s hair, the warm water raking over them.

Mark went almost limp by the time Tom rinsed the shampoo out of his hair. The shower was pleasantly warm and Tom felt happy and content, maybe too much happy. His hands slid down to Mark’s shoulders. The skin felt like silk, all clean from the sweat. Tom placed a gentle kiss on Marks left shoulder. A tangle of want and curiosity swirled through his stomach.

“Fuck, I’ve been dying to get my hands on you the whole set long” Tom couldn’t help the flicker of his eyes down Mark’s chest and lower, Mark hadn’t said anything, just gave Tom a soft, one-sided smile.

“Hey, we’re supposed to get clean” Mark giggled quietly and grabbed him by the waist, closing the inch of space between their bodies.

Tom fiddled with his lip ring. Mark smiled and arched against him, pressing an open mouthed kiss to the underside of his jaw. Tom responded immediately, pinning Mark against the wall.

“Aha, I don’t even need to rub it, it’s like a Jack In The Box” Mark chuckled, skimming his palms over Tom’s chest. Tom hummed in agreement, nuzzling the crook of Mark’s neck. They kissed for a really long time, just standing under the steamy spray. The warm water cascaded around, embracing them in thin tickling streams. Tom felt like he could jump out of his skin, he was already trembling when Mark gave him a slight nudge of his hips, wiggling more space between Tom’s legs.

“God” Tom’s hard cock was pressed into Mark’s hip. He was grinding against him, mouth opened and panting heavily. His head felt light, almost dizzy. Mark groaned quietly, water dripping from his chin. Tom rested his head on Mark’s, closing his eyes in a hope to regain focus.

“Do you… is this okay?” Mark exhaled.

Tom opened his eyes and looked at Mark, his gaze slowly shifted from his face down to where they were pressed together. Mark’s hand was hovering millimeters over their hard cocks. “Yes, yes I fucking want” he sucked in the air.

“Fuck” Tom groaned quietly when Mark slid his hand down and wrapped his hand around both their cocks. He swayed, hands moving to Mark’s shoulders. Mark gave them an experimental tug and Tom bore fingers into his shoulder blades. Mark hissed. This would not last long.

Mark jerked them in a slow rhythm, his wrist banging against Tom’s belly now and then, until Tom was panting into his neck. He mouthed at Tom’s jaw and picked up on speed. Tom dropped his head to Mark’s shoulder and bit the inside of his cheek to keep from coming. Mark noticed it, chuckled and Tom reciprocated with a deep hungry kiss and a tweak of Mark’s pierced nipple. Mark moaned softly down his throat. His hand changed the pace again, now pulling in long hard strokes. Mark’s gaze focused on Tom watching the numerous thin water strands run down his face. Both Tom’s hands reached up to twist in Mark’s short hair and tug him for another kiss, cocks rubbing against each other. The hand wrapped around them changed the angle a little bit and Tom could feel his orgasm build low in his hips. He pressed his thighs together, locking Mark in between them.

“Ah, I’m gonna…” Tom whispered, voice strangled.

Mark crashed their mouths together as he continued to jerk them off, tightening his grip. Tom gasped for air, hips jolting forward as he came, his come hitting Mark’s belly and flowing in seconds away with the water stream. Mark released Tom, locked his hand around himself. It took only a couple of feverish movements, he gasped for air and came with a low groan. His legs were visibly shaking and he leaned exhausted into Tom “God” he exhaled pleased.

Drops of Mark’s come were still splattered on Tom’s hip so he reached out without even thinking about it. He ran his finger through them and watched as they washed away with the water stream from his hand.

Mark looped his arms around Tom’s waist, snuggling into his neck with a delighted hum. Tom pressed their weight against the wall and tried to catch a breath. The time was flowing so peacefully now in comparison to two minutes ago. Everything was pleasantly quiet, warm and lazy. Their breaths intermingling, noses brushing softly, enjoying the fluttering in their stomachs. Oh fuck, they don’t have time!

“Hey, we should really shower and get out, someone could be here any minute.”

“Yeah, yeah, just give me second” mumbled Mark weary between exchanging lazy, messy kisses.

After the shower Tom was flushed, sort of loose-limbed, and when he was watching Mark getting dressed he noticed that there was a new edge to his usually stupidly sky blue eyes. Like a special spark, only for him to see.

They both sat in the lounge when Travis came back with a blissful expression on his face. He lifted a hand to greet them, half in a daze and stammered through the bathroom door. After a short while a loud and angry “Who used all the hot water?!” made them bolt for the bus door laughing.

 

***

 

_Tom stops the audio and takes his headphones off. He’s got an idea now. One of his acoustics is lying on the couch. He gets out of his chair, grabs the guitar and comfortably slumps onto the beige sofa, one leg crosses the other. He brushes off the wandering hair strands out of his forehead and plays the riff… adds a couple more to it, humming something that are not exactly words yet. Slowly a repetitive melody begins to form. Tom chuckles and continues trying to combine various tones._

Travis turned his head away from the audio system on his central console and yelled “Come on, losers, everyone’s hungry, let’s go grab a bite.” A loud rap tune coming out of his car was followed by the occasional loud girl giggle or yelp.

“Ey, Trav says they’re hungry, wanna go somewhere to eat?” Mark tilted his arm down over the edge of an old empty pool.

Tom was at the bottom, scrambling himself up. He got pretty out of form. Maybe their decision to go for a bit of shredding at their old favourite place wasn’t as much of a good idea. Damn his legs were so rusty. Luckily there were no kids around to laugh at them. Tom grabbed for his skate and took Mark’s offered hand. He climbed the pool wall up, brushed the dust off his shirt and pants and they both crossed the concrete pavement to Travis’ car.

“So, where are we heading?” Tom asked from the back seat where he sat crammed between two girls in bikini tops.

“We could stop at Pollo’s, that’s not far from here” Travis suggested, turned the steering wheel and the shiny Cadillac changed the line.

Mark sitting in the front shook his head. “Nah, I don’t like their guac’. Jerry said that he plans to barbecue today, what about that? Aaand, his pool is freshly cleaned I heard. It would be a pity if someone threw some garden chairs and coal into it.”

“You always know how to charm the host” Tom proudly slabbed Mark’s shoulder.

“Oh, that’s awesome, a pool party at Jerry’s. Way cooler than some corner shop tortillas!” added the girl on the right.

“I would like to kindly inform you that there are only a few things better than corn tortillas” Tom furrowed his brows. Nobody insults good food in front of him.

“Oh, sure… like?” continued the girl.

Tom decided to dive right in. “Sex with dogs is one of them, then ALIENS” he waved his hand “oooh, hey did you know that the—, hey what?”

 Mark’s chuckle from the front seat was followed by Travis’ loud groan. “Not again. Do not start this conversation, we’re almost there” Travis barked and cranked up the volume.

Jerry Finn’s house was placed in one of the fanciest LA neighborhoods. The driveway behind the high metal gate was full of shiny cars, the lawn was lush green and freshly mowed. The only thing that disturbed the seemingly high class idyll was the loud punk tune thrumming from the backyard.

“Neat” grinned Mark and moved his sunglasses higher up his nose.

The grill matinee, as Tom liked to fancy call it, was a smasher as usual. The backyard was filled with people chatting and slurping on drinks, the tasty smell of fresh grilled treats filled the air. Jerry greeted them with one of his famous bear hugs and then mingled with the crowd.

They found Rick deVoe, their manager and Chris G at the bar, betting on who can do more vodka shots.  Mark laughed, he has already done the vodka challenge and he knew that no one could beat Chris at this. Rick insisted that he will be the one who will win. Tom grinned and warned him too, with no bigger success.  

Mark then proceeded to investigate the tables with food and Tom recognized one of the artists he recently met at a gallery in downtown SD, a guy called Santo. They had a pleasant conversation on a possible art collaboration for some blink merch. So he picked up Mark, who had a blissful expression on his face and smear of milkshake on his lower lip, introduced Santo to him and they picked up the discussion where they left before.

As the evening went on, Tom got more and more excited with upcoming plans and more and more drunk. At one point he stumbled away to one of the quiet corners of Jerry’s garden to lay in the cooling grass. His head was spinning not only with the wine he drunk.  _If they can pull off the collab with Santo, that would be great. He needs to also check out his art studio. This guy is talented as hell._

Tom loved to make plans for the future. Laying out a bigger plan for all the upcoming things was his favourite thing to do in moments like this. Their dream of being a real big band was coming true faster than they thought and Tom hummed in contentment watching the sky through half closed eye lids.

Mark noticed Tom missing when Jerry’s wife came to tell him that their taxi is here. He went to search for him but got a bit distracted by watching deVoe strip naked, yelling that Chris needs to level up his game. He wanted Tom not to miss the upcoming scene, but could not find him nowhere around. Mark pulled out another cigarette from his pack and slowly walked into the garden. Behind him Rick climbed on one of the tables and insisted he can drink the next vodka shot while doing a handstand.

Mark passed a couple of trees, this garden corner was pleasantly quiet. The house lights flooded the surroundings with soft light and muted party sounds. He was standing at the verge of dark, cicadas were chirring and his shoes were wet with dew. Mark looked around, examining the shapes hidden in the dark. There lied Tom, drunk in the grass in the middle of the night, mumbling and laughing quietly, fingers pointing at the sky. Mark snorted. This was so Tom.

“Man, I was searching for you, the taxi is here. And deVoe is on one of his rolls, doing naked handstands on a table. By the way, how did you managed to get so drunk so fast? You weren’t even drinking that much.”

“Nooo, I — I wasn’t. Hehe” Tom replied and continued “hey do you know that on Proxima Centauri there are Centaurians living? Not like the half horse half dude thing, but like, there, hic—  they live in swamps, there is evidence!”

“Yeah, come on, get up,” Mark squatted next to his bandmate.

Tom stirred, made couple of disapproving sounds and cupped his own forehead. “Goddamn my head won’t stop spinning and my stomach is sort of more upset than usually” he groaned less excitedly.

“Yeah, that’s all the grilled shrimp you ate.”

“No, this is not the first time. I have—, this new medication I got perscribed for my back and I’m not sure… maybe I should not drink alcohol with it, I didn’t exactly paid attention when the doctor was talking to me” Tom slurred and turned to his side.

Mark raised a brow. “Come on, get up, there’s a cab waiting for us,” he helped him up. Tom was a little loose on his feet, swaying as they walked down to the driveway where their taxi waited.

In the end the collaboration with Santo was decided to be for the Atticus brand instead of blink. Tom wanted to explore the possibilities of a shoe branch and Santo have some pretty cool suggestions and ideas. The new design line was presented at a launch party in one of the artist spaces next to Soma. Later the crowd moved to party more private at Mark’s house.

„Hey, I found deVoe, passed out in the front yard! Again!“ Mark came running to the living room where Tom was sprawled on the sofa, reading and nursing a mild hangover. „But this time I’ve got a big role of that transparent plastic wrap, wanna make a Rick Roll with me?“ he flashed a smile of conspiracy at Tom.

„Ohoho, you bet!“ Tom dropped his new alien book and went after him. „Wait, you found him now? Was he there all the time? It’s six in the afternoon. I though he left around lunchtime?!“

Rick really passed out behind the bushes in Mark’s yard, lying there sprawled like a big awkward spider in a Hawaiian shirt.

„I told him not to overdo it this time,“ Tom sighed and poked with his foot at Rick’s hairy calf when Mark returned from the garage with the roll of plastic „but nooo.“

„Shhh, you’ll wake him up. Grab his arms and align them, I’ll roll out the wrap.“

„When he’s passed out nothing will wake him up. Not even a fucking ATOM BOMB!“ Tom yelled in Rick’s face.

Mark froze with a half scared expression on his face, ready to drop everything and run for cover in a split second. But deVoe really did not move an inch, nor woke up.

„Told ya“ Tom said triumphantly. „Last time he passed out, me and Chris arranged him in the trees next to the McDonald’s stop down the road. Like a big motherfucking scarecrow. The only thing he did was slobbering all over his shirt, haha“ he continued while aligning the body of their manager. „First a scarecrow, now a mummy. He could do a decent horror monster show.“

„Yeah. Remember last year’s Halloween? He did not needed much makeup for that Beetlejuice mask after the week long partying,“ Mark laughed wrapping the start of the plastic role around Rick’s bare feet.

„You’re mean,“ Tom remarked, while lifting Rick’s legs up so Mark could continue with the wrapping.

„No I’m not. Now we need to roll him to the side. Here, hold his hands by his hips, I’ll tie them extra tight. He’s gonna be the nicest butterfly baby in the whole neighborhood“ Mark showed absolutely no mercy.

They wrapped up Rick in a dozens of transparent layers like a Halloween mummy from neck to toes, placed him on the bench across the street and sat in Mark’s entry way hidden in the shade.

Rick came to his senses when they were almost finished with their iced tea and after a moment of confusion he tried to worm himself out of his plastic prison, but failed miserably. The deVoe cocoon slid down the bench into the grass and started to yell angry profanities. The cackling and howls coming from the shade probably scared off all the living things in a mile distance.

Tom and Mark convulsed with laughter so much their abs hurt. Rick was helplessly yelling and groaning, getting more and more pissed and Tom decided it was probably time to release him.

„Fuck, you asswipes! Whose idea was it? Fuck Hoppus, it was you, I know it,“ deVoe was livid when Tom cut the plastic foil.

„Oh shut up Rick, you knew you should not pass out at his house, he warned you a couple of times before,“ Tom defended Mark who was still giggling.

„Fuck both of you, you are both assholes and deserve each other,“ Rick snarled later while climbing into a taxi.

Tom watched the leaving car and turned to Mark. „You know, he’s pretty right.“

„Well, I’m not sure if I deserved a walking talking alien encyclopaedia like yourself“ Mark reached towards Tom and patted his head. „You’re still a fine piece tho“ he chuckled and kissed him. „There’s a whole new bucket of chocolate ice cream in my freezer, wanna try it?“

They went back inside, Mark took out the ice cream and divided it into two equally big heaps in bowls. „Do you want some sprinkles, or some other topping? We have all sorts of, plus I think I’ve got a strawberry syrup somewhere deep in my fridge.“

„No, plain chocolate is the best. I still don’t understand how you’re able to eat it with all that shit on it“ Tom answered eyeing suspiciously the Pollock-like composition in Mark’s bowl.

„You don’t know what’s good“ Mark tutted and moved to the big couch. They snuggled together eating ice and watching some old cartoon reruns and Tom fell later asleep on Mark’s shoulder.

„Hey noodle… wake up“ Mark gently patted Tom’s cheek „wake up, punk princess, we’re moving you to bed.“

„Mmmwh, I’m not a noodle.“ Tom mumbled sleepily and opened his eyes. The room was dark.

„We’re moving to bed, you fell asleep for a while, but I can’t let you sleep like this. Your back is going to give you hell tomorrow. Come on.“

After some pushing around and haggling Tom took a shower, changed into his favourite sleeping shirt and climbed in bed after Mark. He snuggled right behind him, entangling his limbs around the smaller man’s body. „Perfect“ he sighed in satisfaction.

Mark wiggled around for extra comfort „You have freakishly long legs, you know that?“

„Hmmm, sometimes I think you’re with me just for my rippling athletic body“ Tom hummed tightening the embrace with his thighs.

„Ah, no-o.  Oww, fucker, stop strangling me“ Mark laughed twisting his hand so he could slot their fingers together. „I love more than just your legs“ he sighed.

„What other parts of my perfect and godlike body do you like?“ Tom pressed his hips to Mark’s with a dirty roll.

„Shut up stupid“ Mark giggled, ears turning a bright shade of red.

Tom freed his other hand, tracing the line of Mark’s neck. Then he playfully bit his ear, trailing the forming goosebumps with his tongue down the back of the neck, biting at the shoulder, just hard enough to make a hickey.  _Marking Mark, haha, Mark squared, I’m hilarious,_ Tom snickered behind him _._  Mark hummed quietly, the soft bites were following a trail down his shoulder and upper arm, Tom’s hands gently holding him in place.

Mark mumbled something, twisting and turning in Tom‘s arms, pulling him closer. He was watching him with heavy-lidded eyes, dragging finger down Tom’s jaw to the outline of his mouth. He slowly moved and pressed a soft, open-mouthed kiss to Tom’s lips, teeth catching on his bottom lip, teasing the lip ring.

“I also like how you’re so sensitive” Mark said in a low whisper when the other man shivered. He pressed his forehead against Tom‘s, their kiss was sweet and gentle. Mark broke it off by pressing a kiss to Tom‘s temple. „DeVoe was pretty accurate earlier today, we fit together perfectly.“

Tom reached out a hand, fingers brushing Mark‘s cheek. His voice was much softer, almost a whisper, when he asked „We do?”

Mark blinked up at him. „Yeah. I mean, isn’t it kinda obvious?“

Tom’s skin felt too warm, and a ridiculous swoop went through his belly. „You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me.”

„Please don’t get too sappy sentimental.“

„You’re the one that started it.“ Tom’s eyes were bright, his cheeks faintly flushed, though from the kiss. His arms tightened around Mark‘s waist as he dipped his head, lips brushing against Mark‘s neck. Mark squirmed lightly, but Tom held him still, tongue flicking out to trace the hinge of Mark‘s jaw, teeth gently scraping the skin. Then he bit and sucked hard just above the collar of Mark’s shirt.

„You dick!” Mark yelled laughing „This one’s gonna be visible!“

„Good, I like that” Tom breathed.

They lazily wrestled around in a tangle of arms and legs, took their time to enjoy the intense sparks running down their spines.

Mark sat up, shoved his shirt off and pushed his way between Tom‘s thighs gripping with one hand onto the threadbare shirt „That has to come off, right now.“ The thing was flying off in a flash, followed by approving murmuring. He levelled himself over Tom, biting the lobe of Tom‘s ear, whirling his tongue along the outer ear.

„Ah—! Oh god, please don’t stop!“

Mark chucked getting busy on Tom’s neck and collar bone, gently biting it and licking patches of hot skin. Tom‘s hands were skimming over Mark’s shoulders, neck and gently stroking his hair. They slowly moved in the sheets, enjoying the tiny gasps that occasionally slipped off. Tom felt the roll of Mark‘s hips, and his own stomach trembled.

They exchanged handjobs pretty regularly and sometimes they weren’t even subtle about it. It was fucking great. Tom especially liked the part when Mark came panting his name. Nothing in the world could sound hotter than that.

„God,“ Tom moaned, getting a hand between them so he could palm himself in his underwear.

Mark got the note. His hands slid lower and urged Tom to lift his hips off the bed, tugging the elastic band of boxers down and off. He dragged his nails through the soft trail of hair below the navel, mouth exploring the sharpness of Tom’s hip bones, moving down in slow teasing bites and licks.

It took Tom a little while to understand through the haze that there was a question hidden behind the insistent bites.

„Yes, yes“ he gasped hastily, running his hands through Mark’s hair.

Mark laughed quietly, his tongue joined his fingers at the base of Tom’s cock. He started easy, kissing his way up the shaft before wrapping his hand tight around it and dragging his tongue across the tip.

Fireworks went off in Tom’s head. „Ah, h-holy shit! Don’t stop“ he whimpered.

Mark kept his eyes focused on Tom’s as he slowly went down his cock, taking him deeper into his mouth. Tom‘s belly heaved and convulsed with every movement Mark made. It felt so good that he had to screw his eyes. Tom tilted his head back, mouth open in a silent oh.

When he lifted his head back down to look at him, Mark‘s mouth went off with a loud pop but his hand continued stroking Tom’s cock in long slow torturous moves, mixing precum with saliva.

“Fuck,” Mark moaned out of breath, bowing and licking a sloppy line from behind Tom’s balls up the length before circling the head of his cock with his tongue. He gripped him again and took him back into his mouth, other hand placed on Tom’s hip, fingers just resting there, solid and comforting.

Tom was drowning in waves of pleasure. His hands travelled up Mark’s throat to his cheeks, moving along as his head bobbed up and down before settling in his hair. He hissed when Mark made an expert stroke and dipped down further, hand speeding up the pace.

„Mark, fuck!“ Tom groaned, his thighs tensing under Mark‘s as he gave up and followed the rise of his hips. He came down his throat, whole body bowing in a tense curve before collapsing back, boneless against the bed. For a flash moment Tom thought  _wait did he –? –o OOH, okaay._

Mark lifted himself back on his knees, pulled his boxers down and reached for his own cock hanging flushed and heavy between his legs. He tossed his head back with a low groan as he stroked himself, lost in the moment.

Tom scrambled himself up from the sheets. Mark was so near he could feel the heat radiating from his body. He reached out and skated his hand over Mark’s belly, tracing the moves with his eyes. Mark groaned and his hand sped up. The dark trail of hair above his cock was glistening with sweat. Tom’s fingers dipped into the damp, just lightly scraping the sensitive skin under it.

„Fuck, Tom!!“ Mark choked and Tom leaned forward to experimentally lick over the tip of Mark’s cock sliding through the hand.

„Oh, oh shit!“ Mark bowed his head back down just in time to see all of his come land on Tom’s face.

„Jesus— haha, whoops!?!  I’m sorry!“ Mark was panting heavily, hands feverishly searching the bed around him for something to wipe Tom’s face off. „I didn’t meant to! I’m sorry!“

„Ah, no big deal“ Tom laughed wiping off the splatters with his hand. He flicked his tongue over his lips to clean off some of it.  Mark froze in the movement.

„What?“

„You—!“ Mark surged forward, bringing their mouths together in a fierce kiss, fingers digging into Tom‘s sides.

Later they managed to get back under the sheets and Tom stayed awake for a long time, listening to Mark’s heartbeat.

He woke up somewhere in the morning, the other side of the bed empty and cold. Tom stumbled out to the bathroom, showered and then stared at his reflection in the mirror for a long time. He went down to the kitchen and found Mark sitting at the table. He wore his glasses, which was a rare sight these days because he usually favourited contacts, and was painting his nails.

„What are you doing?“

„I feel like I needed to celebrate“ Mark stretched out his left hand, flared fingers and observed proudly the bright pink coating „plus this shade goes well with my eye color, right?“ He turned and showed his nails to Tom to admire.

Okay, the bright varnish really did compliment his eyes.

_Tom stares off into the distance. He never met anyone so energetic and lively, yet caring and sincere as Mark. They fitted each other like a glove. Every time Tom had a problem, or was unsure about something, Mark came, nudged him and asked to spill it out. Since the day they met Tom was eager to learn from him and when they practiced or wrote songs, Tom knew Mark always made the right decisions._

Another year went past and they were touring again. Their timetable was comprised of either touring or recording. The empty space between was filled with parties and blink or Atticus promo work. Tom was thinking that except those few weeks spent in the studio, they were constantly on the roll. It was getting a sort of monotone. Not that he didn’t liked it. He did, but you know, he had other things in mind right now and he would like at least a whole year off. With his favourite bass player who was right now disputing something with his guitar tech, absentmindedly bumping Tom’s knee every other second. Just him and Mark. On a deserted island, no pants involved. Thank you very much.

Tom settled in his vague twitchiness, chewed a bit on his nails and watched the crew roam around the backstage. Today’s stop was at some open air gig. This was going to be a long afternoon.

As they waited for their sound check Tom overheard Mark talking to one of the crew assistants. The girl was leaning against one of the big amp cases, making eyes at Mark who was still all cranky and weary from the bus ride. She was all teasing and meaningful glances, but Mark was hesitant yet too polite to tell her to leave him alone.

„I already was listening to you when I was 13, you write so good lyrics. It’s soo funny, hahaha“ she chewed on a gum smiling.

Mark was casually sipping on his coffee and not really listening to the blabber. Behind a store box wall Tom rolled his eyes and pricked up his ear to hear her better. Well it’s not exactly spying on someone’s talk if it’s a monologue right?

„I really like how good you are with words, you know, like, punk poets. Haha“ the girl continued and waved one of her curls around her finger. „I do like poets… you know.“

„Yeah… thank you, we try our best. Not everyone is able to find words that rhyme with premature ejaculation“ Mark answered thruthfuly.

The girl placed her hand on the amp right next to Mark’s hip and made another shift into his personal space. „Hahaha, you’re so funny, I’m Jane by the way“ she popped another bubble in her mouth and gave Mark an extra hungry gaze.

 _Jesus Christ, is this a movie set?? Wait this has to be one of those punk’d jokes_  Tom thought behind the boxes. No one, literary no one could behave like this.  _I do like poets_  he mimed and continued listening in with half amused and half astonished expression on his face.

„Err, well, I need to be somewhere, I think they called me to check upon Travis“ Mark decided to abort the ship „have fun, I guess we see each other on the set“ he added a little hesitantly.

„No, no, no, please don’t leave“ Jane made a last attempt and caught Mark by hand „tell me some big words“ she bat her eyelashes at him, the walkie talkie attached to her hip faintly chirping.

Tom poked his head round the cases, he has to see this. Mark crowded by a girl.  _What a rare sight_  he chuckled.

And Mark was defintely taken by surprise with the hand grab. His upper body went subconsciously the other direction but in a split second he moved back and towards the girl’s ear.

In his hideout Tom tensed.  _What?_

Mark shook his head smirking „Big words, huh?“ The girl was now practically vibrating with eagerness. He snuggled to Jane nearer, his lips almost brushing her ear.

„Mmmm, something big?“ he hummed. „Tom’s cock“ Mark said in low, bed-like voice.

„What?!?? Oh fuck you!“ Jane’s expression changed from eager over surprised to disgusted. Maybe she was not so keen on jokes after all.

„Catch you later!“ Mark hollered and jogged off leaving Jane standing alone.

Tom was not sure if he wanted to kiss or kick him. Fucking pink-haired jackass.

The blink set was scheduled for 7.30 pm, so there was still two hours left. Tom went back to their tour bus, spent the time reading his new conspiracy book, time to time remembering the girl’s face and laughing.

Some time later Mark came back with Travis, their long-term tour manager Chad and some other crew members. After years of touring they settled for certain habits like eating a pre-gig dinner all together. They ordered some take away mexican and Chad shared some great news between the bites. They will be spending this night in a hotel nearby because the next venue went completely flooded with torrential downpour this afternoon. The guys highfived each other and Tom was happy to sleep in a regular bed for a change.

They ate their food mostly in silence except the occasional moans and slurping of drinks and burping. I guess it’s called gastrosexual Tom thought when he watched Mark’s facial expressions that could be identified as the highest form of food orgasm he has ever seen. But he could understand him very good, his quesadilla tasted like heaven too.

He could not wait to already be at the hotel to take a shower and lounge for a bit after the gig.  His underarms smelled like something died there. He can actually take a good sleep and relax a bit. The last two shows were exhausting, he did not slept well and all the waiting made him kind of more worn out than usual. Plus his back could use some proper mattress. He already felt the soft clean bed sheets surrounding his body. His face lighted up at the vision and he ferouciously bit into his food.

Exactly one hour prior the set start Tom popped in his pills, washed them down with some awful wine, because _hey fun,_  and started his warm up routine sitting on the bus lounge couch.

„What, what time is it?“ yelled Mark sticking his head out of his bunk.

„Shortly after six thirty“ Tom answered slapping the strings on his guitar.

Mark murmured something and slowly shuffled out of his bunk and into the lounge putting his Pac Man shorts and a a hole on his left foot‘s sock to show. The domesticity of Mark‘s appearance made Tom laugh.

„Shut up, I know“ Mark grinned, scratched his particularly epic bed hair and made a tragically inept attempt to hide his blush.

The crowd was roaring. Once again a wrapper thought Tom with ringing in ears as they were leaving the stage after their set. Everything was in perfect sync. The rhythm, the crowd, all three of them. He and Mark.

Tom staggered on the stairs down the stage, his vision is somehow blurry, apparently he was still on the euphoria. And then he staggered for the second time, missing the last step.

„Hey, watch out! Okay?“ one of the security guys grabbed him by the shoulders.

„Yea, yea, it’s just the post show high, sorry“ Tom stuttered out, his whole body was buzzing, drenched in sweat, waiting for the pleasant numbness of a total exhaustion to appear. Except his heartbeat wasn’t slowing down and the dull pressure in his lower back was more and more vexing.  _What the fuck, I took my pills,_  he though looking for the nearest place to sit.

Mark was right behind him. „Hey, is everything alright?“ his voice was soft, concerned.

 „It’s all fine, just a little bit out of breath maybe?“ Tom’s hands were shaking. Mark passed him a water bottle and he thankfully chugged it down in one take.

Travis stood beside them eyeing Tom’s hands with mild expression. „Maybe you‘re just low on sugar. I go get something sweet“ he jogged away.

Tom’s head was spinning circles, he was trying to concentrate on the reassuring circles Mark was rubbing into his shoulder.

„The only thing I was able to find was some coffee stand. Here I got you a cappuccino extra sweet.“

A tattooed hand holding a paper cup appeared in Tom’s view. Fuck, he did not even noted that Trav was back. „Thanks“ he managed to croak out, throat a little raw, sipping on the hot sweet liquid.

Tom sighed quietly, his gaze dropping to the floor. „Could we move somewhere else? My back hurts like a motherfucker.“

„Sure, do you want to go and sit in the backstage for a while? There’s food and drinks.“

A flash of sharp pain went through Tom’s body. He winced. „No, no, I don’t want to go to the backstage. It’s loud, and the space nauseates me. Can we go to the bus?“

„Of course“ Mark said softly and helped him to stand up again.

„I wanna lie here, s’more place“ Tom navigated them towards the lounge when they entered their bus.

„Okay, I bring you your pillow and blanket and take a quick shower, alright?“

„Sure. But be back quick.“

When Mark came, he wrapped an arm around Tom’s shoulders and slouched down against the couch cushions next to him. Tom buried his face to Mark’s neck and sniffed a little. The familiar smell of Mark filled his nostrils and calmed him down. „God you smell so good“ he blabbered.

„Are you feeling better now?“ Mark laughed.

Tom just melted into Mark’s arms. „I would sleep better on floor next to you than I ever would in my own bed.“

Mark’s fingers tightened around Tom’s arm, he placed a quick kiss on his temple. „We should be driving off to the hotel at any time now. Hmm, maybe you should be a little careful with your medicine.“

Tom cuddled in more and wanted to actually say something but was interrupted by the door creaking. He immediately froze. What if it’s a stranger?

„Guys, just to let you know, we’re rolling off“ Travis poked his head through the door. „How’s he? Do you need anything?“ he asked changing the tone to whisper, thinking Tom was probably asleep.

Mark nodded „I think we’re fine.“

„I’ll let you know when we’re at the hotel“ Travis added and silently closed the door.

The arrival was pretty spectacular because someone apparently could not hold their mouth. There was a crowd of fans waiting at the entrance. Rather small but twice as loud. Tom got startled by the yelling, woke up and clumsily moved as fast as he could with Mark’s and Trav’s assistance to the lobby. His grumpy and generally disapproving expression took them though their check-in super fast.

Their room was nothing special but the bed was big, fluffy and smelled of lilac softener. It didn’t took long before he was out like a light with Mark slowly dragging his fingers through Tom’s hair.

_Tom overlooks the numerous platinum and gold awards hanging around the walls of the studio. Although he and Mark were pretty much attached at the hip, they decided against living together. But they often slept at each others houses so there was no surprise that Tom spent a whole week at Mark’s and vice versa. After the Pants record they got so much publicity they were unable to go outside for a while without being constantly approached by strangers. As a result of this, Mark started to preferred his own quiet space. Tom, on the other hand, took full advantage of it and was constantly socializing. His business connections grew and he happily explored the time of being young and famous. Haha._

„H-hey Mark, Moark, do aliens dream of naked humans?“ Tom yelled the question into the phone.

„What?!…Tom! It’s four in the morning!“ Mark’s voice was only a little bit angry.

„I know, I know, listen, I’ve got an awesome idea. I met this amazing guy, David, he’s a photographer and I want him to do a photoshoot with us. He makes these totally gnarly snaps of people with overpainted lips, wigs and stuff. It’s all so, ugh, you have to see it, I’ll introduce you to this guy. I met him tonight, here in the art studio,“ Tom described in short his new discovery.

„Yeah, sounds cool“ Mark noted sleepily „don’t forget the band practice tomorrow, alright? Good night“ and hanged up.

Tom jammed his phone back into his pocked and turned to the window he was standing at. The first signs of dawn were showing up. Tom loved the sight of sun rays slowly, shyly creeping up into the deep darkness of the night. He happily swung on his feet.

A hand tapped on his shoulder. „Hey Tom, I’d like to introduce you to someone.“

„Ah, Dylan!“ Tom turned around to see his friend. „Sure, why not.“

The amount of alcohol Tom drank made him more hyped, so he followed Dylan through the crowd to the back of the atelier. They approached a tall, blonde haired girl with a glass of white wine in her hand.

„Jen, I’d like to introduce to you Tom DeLonge, we work together… Tom, this is Jennifer Jenkins“ Dylan introduced them.

„Just Jen“ answered the girl shaking Tom’s hand with a firm hold.

It turned out Tom and Jen went to the same school, but right now she was studying design in San Francisco. They had a pleasant chat about working spaces and furniture. Mark lately proposed that they should probably give their Atticus headquarters a make over and he wanted it to be cool and laid back, yet minimalistic and modern. They exchanged numbers and Jen told him she’s available any time for consultations and stuff. Tom headed home to Mark with a head full of ideas.

It was approximately six in the morning when the taxi reached Mark’s house. Tom paid the driver, walked up the driveway and quietly unlocked the door. He went to the kitchen, poured himself a glass of orange juice and stretched his back. He exhaled harshly. The summer heat was giving him hard time again. His back was hurting like hell, maybe he should get back to doing all these therapeutic exercises his doctor advised him.  _Hmm, gonna start tomorrow_ , he though and went to the bathroom to brush his teeth and shower.

When he closed the bathroom door, the house was dark and quiet as before. Tom crossed the hallway and quietly opened the door. Mark was sleeping in the big bed, slobbering all over the pillows.

Watching him silently breathe made Tom ache with the feeling of how lucky he was. Because he had the perfect guy right here, understanding more and more how much he wanted to keep it like this.

He no longer felt like a dork with a crush and confusing boners. It was a much deeper sort of fascination. His heart pounded and chest clenched every time his eyes met Mark’s in a crowded room. It was the way they were completely in sync on and off stage. They nestled into each others space like they were meant. Mark was everything Tom could ever wish for.

Of course Tom liked him. Waking up next to the whatever color Mark’s hair was, jamming on the guitars with him. The sarcastic, loyal and honest Mark, the one who cut hole into his shirt just to prove Tom that it’s socially acceptable to show your nipple ring at any occasion. Be it a label management meeting or shopping at a grocery store.

The cause of their long life entry ban at the Creekside mall turned in the sheets onto his back, sleeping soundly. Tom watched Mark’s chest slowly rising and falling.

For a couple of past months Tom had the feeling he was innerly waiting for something to happen.  This sort of undefined anticipation, when something inside you was buzzing, waiting to explode. He was waiting for a revelation but did not realized that it happened a long time ago.

Oh, God,“ he muttered throwing a hand over his face „oh my fucking god“ he whined.  _I guess this is what they call fall in love._


End file.
